- Publisher: Random House Audio (Books On Tape)
- Publication date: August 2, 2016
- Language: English
- Disks: 9
- Duration: 10 hours 43 minutes
- ISBN-13: 978-1-5247-3627-9
- Author: Colson Whitehead
- Read by: Bahni Turpin
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead is a speculative fiction novel that explores the African American experience in America through the eyes of Cora, a runaway slave. This is an alternative history of the pre-Civil War South that plays with that history to show many of the horrendous experiences and degradations that people of color experienced (and in some ways continue to experience) in America.
The historical “underground railroad” was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses that escaped slaves could use to work their way to the northern states where they had the opportunity to be ‘free’. The author envisions this as a physical railroad with physical trains running through tunnels under the southern states with various stations in different states. He uses the conditions in the different states to show case some of the actual horrors that have been faced by African Americans over the centuries. From slavery to torture to rape to forced sterilization to medical experimentation to being put on public display to lynchings, etc.
Cora experiences horrendous conditions from rape to torture and more on a plantation in Georgia. Her mother, Mabel, is the only slave that has ever escaped from the Randall plantation. When Caesar is sold to the Randalls, he convinces her to run. They make their way through various difficulties until they are able to ride the railroad. The book follows her as she moves from state to state and experiences different level of abuse and prejudice as she does. In parallel, the story follows the slave catcher, Ridgeway, who is hunting Cora, Caesar, and others.
This delineation of practices by different states is not historically accurate, but Colson uses it as a means of highlighting different ways African Americans have suffered at the hands of white America over the years. Some of the things he discusses actually occurred historically long after the slaves were supposedly freed. For example, there is a reference to studies being done on black men with syphilis, who are not treated. This mirrors the historical Tuskogee Syphilis Studies that took place between 1932 and 1972.
The Underground Railroad is a powerful story. You can’t help but be touched by the brutality that Cora and others face. I have mixed feelings on the choice to add things like the physical railroad to the story. It is a clever device to move from setting to setting and allows Whitehead to explore different aspects of the brutalities. By making it an alternative history, it also gives the reader an ‘out’. By combining things from different eras and fictionalizing the narrative, it might let some folks think that these things were all ‘way back when’ and we have moved beyond them. We have moved on, but our society continues to be affected by this history, some of which was not that long ago.
I strongly recommend The Underground Railroad, but I also recommend you do some additional reading on the historical Underground Railroad and the conditions that have and continue to exist for African Americans and other minorities in the USA.
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Matt Truxaw’s newest book is Monster, which released on 1/12/2026. This urban fantasy, horror, thriller will keep you turning the pages.
He is also the author of the hard science fiction thrillers: “Plastiphobia/Plastivore” and “Anthrophobia: A Teacher’s Tale”
You can find them all on Amazon in Paperback, Hardback, Kindle and/or free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
When you read any of them, he would really appreciate a review/rating on Amazon or your favorite book seller/book reader site.
More about Matt:
He was born in Orange County California many years ago and he still lives there. He has been reading books for most of those years and writing up book reviews for the last few years. He gets MANY of his books out of the library/Libby so expect a lot of old science fiction classics book reviews and other science related reviews in addition to newer books he comes across.
If you want to be ‘in-the-loop’ on these and other works, you can follow his author’s page on Amazon or his Facebook page.
For more reviews and articles by Matt here on Amazing Stories (Click here).
Monster: A Novel by Matt Truxaw
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